They are apparently using much thinner ropes than we ever did at my school. If I were to estimate, our ropes were four or so inches in diameter, and classic hemp. Wrapping around anyone's digits tightly enough to pinch or sever would have been impossible. It just wouldn't bend enough to wrap.

The rope was, I believe, the same diameter as the climbing ropes in the gym.

I think they have the mechanics wrong in the article. People have lost fingers and arms with broken ropes during tug-o-war in the past. It always happens when the rope breaks, not during a 'successful' match. I do not fully understand how it works, but it isn't because people are wrapping the rope around their fingers.

If the rope snapped as stated in the article it was most probably made of some kind of plastic fibres, nylon or something, which is a big big NO-NO in a tug-of-war. What happens when you pull at it is that it stretches until it finally breaks. I remember reading about a similar accident at a scout jamboree in Denmark. When the the rope snapped many of the scouts got their palms severely burnt from the friction when it un-stretched (for lack of a better word) again.